"Santa should just bring presents, we don't need to see him!"

Sunday, Brad and I got the kids dressed to go see Santa at the Bass Pro Shop in Leeds, AL. If you live near one, I highly recommend going...the kids would love it. They had all kinds of things for the kids to do and the "boys" liked walking around the huge store.

We stood in line to see Santa, which luckily for us was not very long. Tucker took his picture first...he looked like he was mad at Santa and was about to attack. Taylor held on so tightly to Brad and would not take a picture. Then I hand Turner to Santa. Turner stared at him for a good 20 seconds. The lady taking the picture said "Once he looks at me, then I 'll take the picture"...this is what we got! This is right before the enormous scream he let out. It was so funny!!!

Tucker later said..."Mommy, maybe Santa should just bring us presents, we don't need to see him".

Classic!

SHHHH...Be Vewy, Vewy Quiet!!!

Above are some pics from Thanksgiving Day. Turner was asleep when we took these...poor thing, he always gets left out!

I should be vacuuming the house right now instead of sitting at this computer "blogging". I'm trying to be quiet in the hopes that Taylor will take a well deserved (and by that I mean, I deserve it!!) nap. Here lately, the child does not want to sleep during the day. I guess I should have known this day was coming...Tucker did the same thing.

Once I put Turner down for his nap (usually around 11 or 11:30), I will attempt to put Taylor down so that I can get some work done around the house. But if she hears me, that's it, she wants to be with me. I needed some alone time today...so as soon as I put her in her room and turned on (her favorite) Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, I shut the door and carefully went down the stairs to attempt to straighten up the house. It's been over an hour and so far, so good...and I believe she's asleep. Even if she's not, she's being quiet...and that's good enough for me! I've done everything but unload the dishwasher and vacuum. I'm scared that the noise will "wake" her and she'll want to come downstairs. How horrible of a mother am I?

Tucker is about to be home from Mother's Day Out and within 30 minutes of his arrival, everyone will be awake, yelling, screaming, laughing, running and riding through the house. My mom was commenting on how well behaved Turner was when there was tons of commotion going on. He's so good because chaos is his life. Turner almost doesn't know what to do when it's quiet...he thinks when it's quiet...it's nap time. It's amazing what you learn to "block out" as a stay-at-home mom. The happy (and loud) squeals, laughter, and talking don't seem to bother me as long as everyone is getting along and the sounds are coming from happy children...it's when they start to get tired (either physically or of each other) and they start to cry or scream at me is when it bothers me.

I guess in the end a clean house, laundry folded and put away and a well manicured lawn doesn't mean as much to me as happy, healthy and well adjusted kids. I just hope that I'm not screwing them up too bad!